Bartlett Module Wins UCL Special Award for Sustainability Education 2023

The module was recognised at the 11th annual UCL Sustainability Awards. These accolades recognise students, staff and researchers making change possible at UCL and beyond, celebrating sustainability champions across the university environment who impact everything from teaching to the campus environment.

The module was launched in the 2019-20 academic year, and sits within The Bartlett School of Architecture’s Architectural and Interdisciplinary Studies BSc, but it also welcomes students from across other UCL programmes. In 2023, students from disciplines as varied as Genetics, Civil Engineering and Urban Planning included the elective module in their studies. Registrations for the module have grown consistently since its launch, starting with 18 students and growing to 33 students in the last academic year.

Greening Cities teaches the principles of biodiverse nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation, and how these are being implemented in cities around the world. It invites students to develop their own creative responses to the climate adaptation and nature recovery crises.

The module’s teaching staff brings together practicing expertise across the spectrum of knowledge and research into climate and the built environment. The programme is led by Bartlett lecturer Blanche Cameron. External lecturers and design workshop leaders, who make up a third of the course teaching time, include green roof expert Dusty Gedge, Peter Massini who was Greater London Authority green infrastructure policy lead for 10 years, UK green infrastructure expert Gary Grant, biodiverse landscapes innovator John Little, biodiverse SUDS designer Wendy Allen and Vice-Chair of the UK Green Roof Organisation Chris Bridgman.

Blanche is also developing a collaborative and interdisciplinary Green Infrastructure Network at UCL, to help support action on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and contribute to work around adaptation, mitigation and nature recovery, and related justice issues.

More information

• Find out more about the UCL Sustainability Awards 2023
• Find out more about Greening Cities in the UCL module catalogue
• Find out more about Architectural & Interdisciplinary Studies BSc

Lead image: Climate-adapted Institute of Education, UCL, by Cristina Ning Su, Architectural and Interdisciplinary Studies BSc
Inline image: Rain Planters on installation day in Medawar Gardens, July 2022. Left to right: Wendy Allen, expert biodiverse SUDS designer; Susanna Grant, shade-loving plants advisor; Hannah Biggs UCL Senior Sustainability Advisor; UCL Green Infrastructure PhD Candidate Aude Vuilliomenet; Greening Cities student Anya Blanchfield; Blanche Cameron; and John Little, biodiverse low-carbon landscapes expert